


Sixth Sense

by Hallowtide



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Animal Instincts, F/M, Family Fluff, Possessive Behavior, Protective adopted family, Supernatural Elements, Twins, powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-12
Updated: 2014-11-12
Packaged: 2018-02-25 02:37:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2605493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hallowtide/pseuds/Hallowtide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lara knew it wasn't luck she found twin four year olds in the middle of the apocalypse, or luck they found her as it would seem. Nor was it luck that when she needed them, the Dixon brothers came crashing through her barricade. Something was bringing them together, and it wasn't fate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Walking Dead franchise, which is trademarked by AMC and Robert Kirkman. I do not own any of the characters depicted apart from my own original characters, nor do I share any of the beliefs the characters in this story express. I am not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story.

There were a couple of things Daryl Dixon knew for sure. One of them was knowing his way around a Horton® Scout Crossbow. Another was, despite that world going to shit and the living dead coming back with a vengeance, Merle Dixon didn’t know if he was up or freaking down. Nothing much had really changed now that the world had ended. Especially those two things. His older brother was always shoving something up his veins or inhaling some sort of vapour. Before he hadn’t cared, until Merle was in some sort of fight and a broken bottle was being whipped out, and the black and white brigade was showing up on their doorstep the next morning. But now he just wished he’d **shut the fuck up**! Higher then a fucking cloud, Merle Dixon was stomping way too loud. Breathing too harshly. They weren’t hunting game this time around, but in this back water town there’s bound to be a bunch of geeks hiding behind every corner. ‘Near Atlanta’ don’t mean shit when there isn’t any fuel to get you there. The world depends on fossil fuel; I mean, how _stupid_ is that?

The dead walking. Daryl snorted softly. He wished his Daddy was still breathing, only to eagerly watch him being ripped apart by greedy, gnarled hands. Dixon Senior wouldn’t have survived this long into the End, and his sons would have kicked back and watched him fail. Nobody in this world needed that good for nothing sack of meat. And by the way Merle was stumbling over his feet and slurring curses at the top of his voice his older brother will soon be next on the Dead Dixon List.

“Fucking Christ Merle! Shut your yabbering hole and help me find this motherfucker place”, Daryl hissed as Merle kicked a paint can and dozily watched it bang against the street kerb. Merle lifted his lips, his eyes catching fire he punched Daryl in the arm. Not even trying to hold his strength back.

“Aw poor little Darlina need help from her Big Brother?” Merle sneered condescendingly “Shit boy. Can’t you do anything by yourself?”

Daryl glared back at him, tapping his fingers lightly against the trigger on his crossbow. He knew this was a bad idea. Yet he needed new supplies, bolts and trigger wire, but he still shouldn’t have said anything to Merle. As soon as he’d heard about Daryl’s plans to make a run into town he’d all but moved like a bat outta hell. Looking for his next fix. _Stupid_. When would he learn Merle don’t care nothing ‘bout nobody?

Daryl tilted his head, bringing his hand up and smacking a fist into Merle’s chest to make him stop. He got a grunt and a glare for his trouble, but Daryl was concentrating on more important things. He was getting that feeling again. The one that told him when to duck when his father swung his baseball bat at them; the one he’d get and he’d _know_ to adjust his shot and his bolt would hit home.  Daryl glanced to the side. Seeing the shop door slightly open, he suppressed a satisfied smirk having found his mark, but just in case he looked across the street, only to have the feeling start to ebb away before it swung back into full force as his eyes fixed back on the supplies store. Maw Maw Dixon said he had the Gift. Whatever the fuck that meant. All Daryl know’s is that if he doesn’t listen to his instinct, he’s bound to end up in a world of hurt.

Merle was turning around, probably wandering after a pink fucking duck that talked like a sixties dancer, before Daryl grabbed a fist full of his shirt and dragged him along behind him. Again, he got a bruise for his trouble, one that’ll probably be black and blue and fading into some sort of yellow in the morning, but the _feeling_ was getting stronger. Whatever was behind that door was either something really _fucking good_ , or really, **bloody** , bad.

“Merle”. And that was all Daryl had to say. His older brother was already reaching for his knife, his eyes clearing up like fog rolling away in the early morning. Merle was good like that, Daryl can bitch and moan however much he wants, but at the end of the day Merle’s the only one who’s got his back. And he could sense violence and blood and _death_ like Daryl could sense where his prey was hiding in the overgrowth.

Nudging the door open Daryl took the lead, his hands like a vice on his weapon. The shop was shadowed and the windows were boarded. Obviously a stand was made here. And by the blood caking the glass cabinet near the cash register it was clearly a last stand against the dead. Or Scavengers. They’ve run into a few. People like Merle and their Daddy who were trouble in their past life, and now are the only ones with the guts to survive. People willing to maim and torture scouts for their crew’s location, then proceed to descend on them like locusts. Picking everything clean and killing everything and _everyone_ that remained behind. His brother’s his kin, but Daryl’s got no illusions how Merle would deal with this apocalypse if he were willing to leave his little brother.

Both brothers’ swerved towards the sound of shuffling, Daryl lowered his crossbow and took aim as the linen cloth covering the table was moving from beneath by an unseen force. The Dixon boys stared in surprise as a small figure crawled out from beneath the dark, and after raising his weapon in disbelief Daryl knocked Merle’s knife out of his hands when he realised his brother wasn’t doing the same, while his brother stared into the biggest brown eyes he’s ever seen and arm’s stretched up high towards them in a grabbing motion.

“Jesus fucking Christ Darlina. I think she’s alive”


	2. Chapter 2

Merle was quiet but Daryl hissed in outrage at the bruise like a dark ink bracelet around the little girl’s wrist. When Merle hesitantly let the little girl take his hand she gripped two of his fingers tightly, her brown eyes blinking up at them slowly before she turned in a swirl of wavy brown hair and green dress tugging at Merle impatiently. Grim faced the brother’s glanced at each other, Daryl raising his crossbow again they let the toddler lead them through the supplies store. The smell of rotting from before they discovered had been coming from a Walker near the back of the store, curiously though the little girl didn’t seem to notice, or care, that a Walker was inches away from her little shoes. “Her parents are probably back here. Dead or….” Daryl murmured looking at the beaten in face of the Walker they had to step over. “Probably” Merle grunted back, his eyes on the bruise again. Eerily, if he gripped the girl’s wrist himself the finger marks would probably match up exactly. Daryl eyed his brother’s grim expression. He could see Merle was thinking exactly what he was. About when the world was still functioning but equally still as shit, their father had shaken their baby sister to death only a few short months after she had been born. Merle took it harder than Daryl, probably because Daryl was still just a kid himself when it happened. But for both brothers’ violence against children was one of their greatest taboos.

She paused in the door way leading to the back rooms, chewing on a tendril of brown hair her grip on Merle’s fingers tightened. Both Dixon’s glanced down at her as she hid behind Merle’s leg, hand’s still connected with Merle’s she nudged his leg forward while still trying to hide behind him. Her big brown eyes glanced into the room nervously then up at them before darting back. Daryl let himself pat her hair, not giving a shit if Merle gives him grief over showing emotion “I’ll check it out, just in case her parents are Walkers”. Daryl stalked through, Merle impassively watching him go before glancing down at the little girl “something bad in there pretty little cub?”. The girl still said nothing, but she nodded, her other little hand now clutching onto Merle’s army issued fatigues. 

“Nothing in there but two dead men. And a locked door. Figured she crawled through the dog flap and her people are hiding inside. Or dead” there was a tightness to Daryl’s voice though and Merle raised an eyebrow questionably. “One dead guy’s got his pants around his ankles” Merle stiffened, his fogged eyes sharpening dangerously. Kids are never to be touched. Ever. The Dixons flanked the little girl as they walked on, but even then she still skirted pretty far around the dead men, and even though she didn’t look at them directly she was obviously cautious. As they past Daryl sneered at the bodies, but was weary of the marks. No Walker got them. Their visible flesh was torn to pieces, but in strips. Like someone had taken a very sharp knife to their skin. Obviously someone didn’t like being a victim. Or someone got some very satisfying revenge. 

At the end of that room just past the bodies was a locked door with a dog flap, and Merle startled when the little girl let go of his hand and started to crawl through. “No!” Daryl quickly swooped down and scooped her up, her wide brown eyes looking up at him startled. “We don’t know what’s through there. Walkers. A trap. Anything!” Daryl hissed to Merle as the eldest Dixon jimmied the door handled. The toddler was looking up at Daryl, her little nose scrunched cutely she patted his cheek like she was trying to get his attention. Looking down at her while Merle looked around for a crowbar or something to get the door open she started stroking his cheek like he was a pet or something. Merle crackled at his younger brother’s frown “looks like she’s fond of someone”. Daryl scowled at him, his arm’s awkwardly cradling her against him. 

She kept looking down at the door in what could only be described as impatience, wiggling in Daryl’s arm’s to be let down. The youngest Dixon had to let her down or drop her. Merle snickered again, crouching down he peeked through the flap before turning to the toddler “can you open the door pretty little cub?”. She looked at him in confusion, one little hand lifting a lock of brown hair to her mouth again she glanced up at Daryl before nodding hesitantly. Daryl scowled at his brother as they watched her crouch and then crawl through “she’s a toddler Merle! How is she going to understand what you’re asking? And we don’t even know what’s in there!” 

Merle snorted at him, peeking through the dog flap again “shut up Darlina. I checked. I can’t see nothing” he growled lowly “and if her taco bender parents are alive in there and let that little girl leave their sight without doing nothing I’ll throttle them”. Merle shot his brother a triumphant grin when the lock slide out of place and the door swung open. Daryl followed Merle in hesitantly; closing the door behind him he turned and breathed in sharply. Below an obvious head wound splatter a body was crumpled half sitting up against the wall. Daryl wasn’t even sure the blonde girl was alive but she was pretty roughed up, and it wasn’t just her lying there either. Curled up at her side was a little boy, probably the same age as the other toddler, with the same big brown eyes staring at them intently. With his head on the blonde girls chest it was only then did he realise the blonde’s chest was rising and falling with each breath. But it was weak. 

Merle tried to keep the girl with them but she slipped through his finger’s, trotting to the blonde girls side she kneeled on the opposite side from her sibling and started stroking her cheek like she had just been doing to Daryl. “We need to get them away from her. She could be infected” Merle muttered to Daryl as he stared at them. 

As Merle was about to tread closer to pick the cubs up the blonde’s eyes flashed open, and Daryl stared into the eyes of a predator with sea glass blue eyes. She hissed at them loudly, hand picking up the long knife at her side she tried to rise but obviously was too weak. Daryl put one arm in front of Merle and the other was held up in a clear ‘wait’ signal “we’re not gunna hurt ya” he said gruffly, unused to trying to settle someone. The blonde’s eyes sharpened and glanced from Merle to Daryl, then down at the little girl and her brother as they stroked her hair with little hands. Both Dixon’s stared at the extent of bruising on her arms, the cut on her cheek oozing blood steadily. Merle knew from experience the wound was from a strong back handed blow. 

“They yours? Some kinda teen mum or something?” Merle grunted, pointedly looking at the toddlers. She tensed, pain hazed eyes glaring up at them she was obviously trying to fight against her injuries “they are now”. Daryl understood that, getting the feeling they have been since the End. They were all quiet, tense, before the blonde spoke “the men in the other room....”. Both Dixon’s bristled again at the thought of what those men had been doing to get themselves slashed to ribbons, “dead”. The girl’s lips twitched into a little sadistic smile “good”, she paused, sharp blue eyes eyeing them in mistrust “they’re your boys?”. 

Daryl scowled “no fucking way. They’re fresh kills”. The last was obviously a question and the blonde took a moment before replying “we got jumped this morning I think. Not sure how long I was out”. Merle growled, eyes glancing again at their injuries. The little boy with the too big army cap on his head had grip bruises on his shoulders that they could see because of his sleeveless shirt. “You got a crew we can drop you at?” Daryl asked when Merle was obviously not going to say anything. The blonde shook her head “what crew of men would take a girl and her kids as a burden and not abuse them? I’m better off on my own”. 

“We got women who can help ya, clean ya up. Couple of rug rats. Couple of men too with guns who are decent enough I suppose” Merle grunted out. She eyed them suspiciously while Daryl picked up from his brother “you’re injured. Not gonna be able to look after your cubs by yourself”. 

“I haven’t see women or children other than us in months. Women are rare. Children are pretty much extinct” 

“They wanted to take ya” Merle spat coming to an understanding at what she was implying, spitting onto the ground. Blondie nodded. “Haven’t been the first” she paused and took in a pained breath “you lying to me and I’ll cut off your balls in your sleep. My kids even looked at and I’ll kill you all”. The Dixon’s nodded, and Daryl stepped closer and gripped her elbow to help her up. She obviously didn’t want help. But there was no way two toddlers could have done it. The little girl stood up and skipped to Merle, patting his hand. “Anita” the blonde hissed, wobbly slightly on her feet before Daryl steadied her “she found us. Brought us here”. The blonde looked like she was going to keel over “she did what?”

Merle smirked down at the tiny blonde “good thing she did too. How’d you think these two would have survived with you dozing all day?”. She hissed at him, the little boy seemingly trying to help steady her. “Gonna tell us your names?” Daryl asked as they slowly made their way to the door. She eyed them, her nose wrinkling like the little girl’s before “Anita and Aidan. I’m Lara. Laraina”. 

“Merle Dixon. This skinny fuck is my baby brother Daryl” Daryl scowled at him, Lara doing the same as if silently scolding him for his foul language. The little troupe paused as banging on the door started suddenly, causing most of them to startle, and moans sounded faintly from the other side. 

“Well fuck me sideways!” Merle growled lowly. Both Daryl and Lara eyed him as he paced erratically “we’re fucking trapped in ‘ere aren’t we?! Fuck!”. Daryl grimaced as the kids watched him wide eyed “calm down, brother”. Merle sneered at him, his clouded eyes alight “how the hell ‘em I supposed to calm the fuck down?! We got barely anyway weapons, three dependants who couldn’t raise a weapon even if they tried and Walker’s at the front door with no fucking back way out! Don’t tell me to calm down boy!” 

Lara narrowed her eyes at him “are you high?” she hissed. At the Dixon’s tense silence Lara snorted in disgust “oh for fucks sake!”. Lara reached forwards and grabbed Merle’s wrist as he was storming past. He scowled down at her but his expression dropped as she looked him directly in the eyes “you need to stop” Daryl stared at them in surprise, Lara’s voice was almost completely monotone without the familiar bite and Merle was still “Think. I don’t know what life was before the apocalypse but drugs will only get you killed now. By Walkers or others. You’re risking us and your brother’s life with this shit in your veins and I will not let you lead us to our deaths. You will never touch drugs again. You will never drink enough to get intoxicated again. You will be a leader and an Alpha for your family and your crew. You will be smart enough to get us out of here without any of us getting bit or scratched and you will help us again in the future. And you will be calm about this!”. Daryl hissed in surprise as the meth started trailing down Merle’s arm from the needle marks from this morning, Daryl’s hand’s reflexively tightening on his crossbow “Witch” he growled lowly. 

“Telepath” she shot back, Lara letting Merle’s arm fall to his side as he shook his head sharply. Groaning Merle rubbed the back of his neck “shit women. What you do to me?”. Lara leaned heavily against the wall, pale and shaking her cubs leaned into her legs, their little hands hooked onto her belt loops “I just saved our asses”.


	3. Chapter 3

The whole camp was staring as a box truck being driven by Merle Dixon pulls into camp. Shane and Dale who were atop the RV glance at each other before gathering some others and heading towards the Dixon’s own little camp a little ways away from the others partly hidden behind some trees. By the time the small group of men get there the trucks already been backed up so the front is facing the road and the opening is alongside the Dixon’s tent. Shane grips his riffle a little tighter as the roller door pulls up and Daryl appears glowering down at them. He doesn’t say anything as he gestures with his head to someone inside before jumping off the truck and to the ground with a heavy thud. “What’s all this about now, boys?” Dale asks as Merle comes around the side. Dale trails off as Lara appears, all battered and bruised and covered in blood. Nobody says anything as Daryl helps the blonde girl down, and Morales does a double take when the twins come out from the dark within. Lara is eyeing them all with intent as she breathlessly helps the twin’s down, refusing help, the cubs then clinging to her side. “Found them. They needed a place to stay” Merle said gruffly, snorting when nobody says anything. “Jesus” Glenn mumbles at their injuries, flinching slightly when Lara’s sharp gaze pierced him. 

Daryl could see Lara was getting increasingly more distressed as time passed in silence. As Shane finally shook himself out of his stupor he walked towards them with his hand out in greeting, but Lara’s muscles coiled like she was ready to strike, and she backed up until unexpectedly her back hit Daryl’s chest. She jumped, her arms around her twins tightening in reflex and she hissed when the others took a tiny step towards her. Her eyes flickered to the Dixon’s with pure malice in the sea glass blue depths “you lied”. Daryl places a hand on the small of her back, glaring over her shoulder at the other Atlanta survivors. 

Merle shook his head at her, reaching out and petting her head like someone might a pet, everyone surprised when she didn’t recoil “no I didn’t”. He glared at the others. “Back off. She don’t like people and she don’t like being touched. Or her kids” he growled at them in warning. Just then the women came, Lori and Andrea choking slightly at the state of them. Merle and Daryl were stiff but said nothing as the women fretted over Lara and the twins. The blonde girl was visibly a little less tense but she was still eyeing everyone with suspicion. 

“Who did this to you darlin’?” Shane asked slowly in his southern drawl, everyone becoming quiet. Lara’s eyes glanced between Shane and the Dixons, obviously noticing what he suspected. “Men” she answered simply, Dale gapping in shock how nonchalant she sounded. “Men?” Amy asked softly, her blue eyes were wide and frightened, almost nauseated at how black the younger girls skin was in places. Yet she still eyed them all like she knew they were a threat, but she was the one with the most power. She held the children to her side and was almost visibly glowing with how furiously protective she was over them. The Dixon brother’s flanked the new comers, but were quiet and were eyeing them, Shane and T-Dogg and Morales, like they were the danger. Amy couldn’t understand how a girl around her age could be so different from her. 

“If you haven’t noticed it’s just how the world is now” Lara answered apprehensively. Daryl could tell by the way her nose was crinkling slightly she was confused. “No man has any right to do this to you!” Lori said softly, obviously thinking the girl was traumatised. Lara visibly frowned now “your telling me none of your people have been taken?”. At the blank faces around camp Daryl could feel Lara tense “there aren’t any women anymore. Not to mention children.” Lara spat quietly. “All there is now is crews of armed men doing anything and everything they want. Women are taken” Lara stressed the word enough that everyone paled, knowing her meaning immediately “children suffer an even worse a fate. I haven’t seen another women in months and by the way some of the local crews have been acting towards me I thought I was the last in the state”

Daryl’s hands were now on Lara’s hips, and Merle’s hand cupped her shoulder “you don’t have to worry about that now”. Lara looked up at them, something softening in her eyes before it harden again when she felt Shane move towards them. “He’s right about that. We aren’t going to let anyone be taken in this camp” some of the other’s nodded, while Carol was exchanging tearful, terrified looks with Jacqui and Andrea was standing protectively close to her sister. “I can stay…?” Lara asked hesitantly. Lori came over and gently cupped her hands, Lori mistaking the tremor in them for terror “of course”. Lara pulled her hands from Lori’s slowly, turning around and reaching behind her into the track and pulling out a large plastic storage box. Daryl brushed her hands aside and lifted it for her, dropping it down in the middle of the circle the survivors had arranged themselves in before stalking back to Lara’s side. 

“My payment then”

The group looked at her, not understanding, while Shane lifted the lid off. There were a couple of gasps of delight as he rummage through the items. A fully stocked First Aid Kit, worm tablets, a box of morning after pill’s, condoms, disinfectant, a couple of pocket knives, more than two dozen canned goods, a couple of hair brushes, two big bottles of rum, razors, a thick book on camping in the harsh wilderness, some shampoo and soup and, what made the women really ecstatic, was the chocolate.

“Thank you but … why? You obviously have the children in your care to look after. Why are you giving us all these things?” Dale asked, Lara starting to understand he was the voice of humanity. Staring at everyone’s confused, but grateful, looks, the group of survivors could tell the new girl didn’t know if they were stupid or just sheltered. Slowly, just in case they were all mentally damaged somehow, she explained “the way things are now, if a person want’s to join a group for a night or for a while, they’re expected to ‘pay’ their keep. I’m fast on my feet. If this isn’t enough for all three of us to stay for a while I don’t mind getting more. I’ve worked as scout before. Its how I’ve kept us alive”. Daryl snarled at the thought of her leaving, Merle getting a slight scowl on his face also “this will be enough” he glared at Shane and the other’s, daring them to say differently “this will feed most of these people for a week at least”. Lara nodded assured.

Shane was eyeing her thoughtfully, thinking that despite her ‘burden’ she was an asset. By the looks of her blood rusted weapons and the, what looks like, a broken hand from when she fought back against her attackers she’d be able to fight the Walkers and help protect the camp. Merle and Daryl tensed at Shane’s considering look, taking a small step closer to the smallish blonde and her cubs between them. 

________________________________________

After introductions Lara and her twins were being shown around camp. Shane was impressed by some of the intelligent questions she asked, Lara obviously wasn’t planning on sitting back and relaxing while she was with the larger group. Merle was doing something out front the Dixon tent, his eyes watchful, but Daryl seemed to stalk Lara’s shadow wherever she and the cubs went. Lori and a couple of the others were eyeing him uncertainty, but he said nothing. Anita was swinging Lara and her linked hands and skipping besides her protector, while Aidan was still weary. When they still hadn’t said anything Morales tried chatting to them in softly spoken Spanish, and while Anita nodded and smiled shyly to some things Aidan seemed to shed away even more when attention was fixed on him. “They speak English” Lara explained when someone asked her “but they don’t really say anything. I thought the same for a time, that English wasn’t their first language, but now I know they just don’t like talking”. Dale said something about trauma, and Lara looked at him sharply “they’ve just learned it’s safer that way”. 

No one could dispute the claim; all knowing that being quiet was probably for the best since Walker’s were attracted to sound. By now they had walked the Quarry almost completely and were just meeting back at the RV. The chatting group that had accompanied Lara and Shane on their little show and tell tour quietened down when a grease covered Jim uncharacteristically lifted his head from the RV’s engine and wandered towards the group. He approaches Lara cautiously before touching two finger tips to his forehead and then his lips, extending them towards her like he’s blowing her a kiss. Lara relaxes some, nodes deeply out of respect to the man, and then copy’s the motion much to the confusion of the others. “You two know each other?” Shane asks, Lara shaking her head. 

“No”

“Yes”

Shane frowns at the two different answers while the other’s looks on in bemusement. Jim motions away from the group “if you wouldn’t mind taking a walk with me?”. Lara nodes and most of the group scatters apart from Dale, Shane and Daryl. Shane eyes them with slight suspicion before walking off towards the fire pits, Jim giving an encouraging look to Dale for him to leave as well. Daryl stands behind Lara, eyeing Jim with mistrust while Merle also stares at them intently, pausing his work. Lara, her cubs and Jim walk side-by-side for a couple of minutes before Jim breathes quietly “I dreamt you’d come”. Daryl’s face crinkles in confusion, while Lara just smiles slightly at the Atlanta survivor “I’m surprised Aidan kept this from me”.

Abruptly they were interrupted by yelling and crying. Carol was sitting on a log with her daughter Sophia wrapped in her arms while Shane and Carol’s husband, Ed, were arguing loudly. Lara drifted over, seeing the cause for concern. Somehow Sophia had stepped in thick shards of glass, and from the way Shane was drilling into a red faced Ed it was the father’s fault. Daryl watched Lara chew her lip cutely before cutting in “I can fix that”. Everyone was staring at her now, Shane’s chest heaving with each breath. Carol lifted haunted eyes up to her “you’re a doctor?”. 

But Lara was already shaking her head “I have training though. Just let me get my stuff and I’ll have the glass out. I might have to stitch by the looks of it”. Sophia seemed to cry louder, and Lara couldn’t help trailing a hand softly over the young girl’s hair. They looked up as a shadow fell over them, and Merle was suddenly there with the first aid kit from Lara’s gift to the Atlanta group. Lara nodded her thanks and got to work.

Lara worked for ages, in the end giving Sophia a little white pill to make her numb to the pain while she dug the glass out of the flesh as gently as she could with only a pair of tweezers. It was in too deep for it to be an accident. It was then that Lara really took notice of the old marks on Sophia’s skin, the hunched over, haunted look of her mother Carol. As Sophia dozed against her mother’s side Lara didn’t look up from stitching the injury when she said “you don’t have to stay with him”. Carol looked at her, eyes already watering while Merle and Daryl sat nearby and pretended they couldn’t hear them. “He protects us” Carol whispers. Lara’s lips pursed, keeping her angrily flashing eyes on her stich work “he hurts you. And your girl. Shane and the other’s protect this camp. The Dixon brothers keep you fed. Glenn scouts for supplies. He sits and drinks. If I wasn’t here this wound might never have been cleaned properly. Would have gotten infected. Rotted from the inside out”. Carol was openly sobbing now, albeit with practiced silence. “He is nothing. And as soon as you see that you and your sweet girl will be safer”. It was only when Lara was packing her things away did she see the Peletier tent was open and Ed was watching her intently, anger and something else written across his face in deep lines of hatred. 

Afterwards when Sophia was all taken care of and her cubs were playing with some of the things she’d scavenged for them, almost every person in the camp trickled by her truck with some sort of injury. Word had gotten around quick and soon almost everyone needed her help. She was busy for hours disinfecting cuts and bandaging injuries. She even had to reset one of T-Dogs fingers. Later though after a hearty lunch and Lara’s cubs were sound asleep napping in the compartment above the cab in her box truck with a child proof gate protecting them from falling Lara wiped her brow, sweaty from helping some of the women clean the dishes with boiling water and detergent. As she trudged up the hill alone from the quarry she suddenly found herself face-to-face with Ed Peletier. “Lara” Ed smiled, the disgusting fake sweetness and malevolence of his voice making her eye him with open disgust. “Why don’t we go for a walk, Doc, and we can have a nice, long, chat about your talk with my wife”.

Lara’s nose wrinkled from the noticeable smell of BO coming from him “no thanks. Nothing we gotta talk about that you don’t already know”. Ed’s face was slowly getting redder with her clear dismissal of him as she stepped around him. He stepped closer and Lara touched the machete strapped to her side making Ed pause almost comically mid step “one of these days Carol will wake up, and I’ll happily be the one kicking your ass out of camp. They’re the only reason you’re allowed to stay here”. Ed hissed at her, his fists clenched “she’s my wife”. Lara glared at him with a gleam in her eye’s that said she knew exactly what she wanted to do with the blade at her side “she’s a mother. How long do you think she’ll let you get away with hurting Sophia before she allows one of us to fuck you up and feed you to the Walkers?”. Ed said nothing as she continued strolling up the road as casually as she had been before, Ed openly leering at her ass he turns to head back to his tent to jerk off with her in mind and smacks directly into Merle Dixon’s chest, his nose making a sharp crunching noise and starts to bleed heavily. As Ed hastily backs away Daryl barges into his shoulder from behind making Ed twirl around and fall to the ground painfully in a tangle of his own limps, spit, blood and dirt. Daryl drops heavily to his knee onto Ed’s chest and his eyes flash savagely when something cracks satisfyingly. Merle stomps on Ed’s wrist when he makes a move to grab the pocket knife they saw him steal from the Atlanta Gift box Lara gave the camp. Merle puts the knife into his shoe just in case. Daryl slips his hunting knife out of the sheath on his thigh and Ed’s eyes almost bulge out of his head. “Lara and her kids are off-limits, Eddy. They’re ours. We’re always gonna keep an eye on what’s ours, so next time you mess with them it won’t just be bruises you’ll be suffering from” Daryl sneered down at the useless excuse for a man blubbering and mumbling curses up at them “talk to her like you did just now, threaten her or go anywhere near her kids and it’ll be the excuse we need to get rid of you”. As Merle and Daryl stepped back and followed the oblivious Lara, Merle’s eyes narrowed when Dale lowered his binoculars with a grim look on his face at what he had just witnessed. Daryl just chewed his thumb cuticle, hiding his harsh grin as he watched Lara walk ahead of them. He liked protecting Lara and her kids, liked that she was his to look after and take care of. No discussion, no negotiations, just a statement of fact that he understood to be true: she was his.

________________________________________

It was soon after that Glenn, T-Dog, and Merle were saying goodbye to camp. Daryl was watching his brother in slight disbelief that he had volunteered for this run into town, chewing on the cuticle of his thumb while he leaned against their truck. Merle had just grunted something about supplies. If Daryl hadn’t seen Lara work her little spell on Merle earlier he’d have thought his brother was looking to score in town. Merle nodes at Daryl before turning to Lara where she had been nibbling at her lip worryingly. Lara takes a little step closer to Merle, putting a hand over his heart for a moment while he just looks down at her with something akin to sibling affection. “I know Daryl’s got his panties in a twist thinking I’m gonna get back on the drugs and fuck up. I think only we know that I’m clean now, not by choice” Merle snorted “but I’m not gonna be doing anything stupid. No need to look at me like that baby girl”. Lara didn’t say anything, just let him speak. 

Merle let out a little chuckle and glanced over her shoulder at where Andrea, Shane and Lori were looking at them tense. "Ol' Merle will be around a bit longer for ya" He told her, patting the top of her head. "I have to. How’s this little Dixon Pack of ours gonna survive without me?” Merle asked with a fierce grin.


	4. Chapter 4

Lara watched with protective eyes as her young charges giggled loudly, a smirk tugging at her lips reluctantly despite the tense atmosphere as they splashed each other in the quarry. Getting them to wash their own hair was close to impossible. But they had no unwillingness to get wet. Jacqui and Carol smiled at her; the children’s happy laughter fixing something bruised in their hearts while Amy laughed at Lara’s exasperated sigh as Aidan playfully dodged her hands, and the shampoo they held. Aidan was never this relaxed, so Lara treasured it, even when she had to almost leash him to be still. Anita was a little better. But she still playfully tackled both Lara and Aidan in the knee depth water they had claimed as their bathing area. The other women were a couple of feet away washing clothes, and Lara had some things to wash herself but the pain killer she had taken this morning was wearing off, and the cool water soothed her aches. Plus two toddlers could never be trusted to clean themselves of the dirt they had been carrying on their skin. They were too sneaky. 

Shane and Carl were across the water, splashing and playing themselves. And behind the women was Ed, Lara studiously ignoring him as she combed Anita’s hair. All three of them were wearing loose fitted shirts, but Lara was becoming increasingly more infuriated the longer he watched them. Daryl was in the middle of a ‘camp watch’ shift, and Merle wouldn’t be back until almost noon. So at least she didn’t have to worry about them making a scene, but if he continued Lara was worried what her frayed nerves would make her do. This group seemed like the type of place she could see the three of them being protected, but she wasn’t so sure they wouldn’t kick her out if she did what her instincts were screaming at her to do. 

The women were laughing hysterically, and dread and malice filled Lara’s heart as she watched Ed out of the corner of her eye start making his way over to them. But instead of stopping there he walked past until he was a few feet away from Lara. Carol and most of the other women were dead quiet while Lara stiffened and turned slowly to face Ed as he continued watching them. Her eyes flicked to Jacqui and Amy before she stared at Ed unflinchingly “I killed the last man who looked at me and my kids like that. What makes you think you’d be any different?”.

She wasn’t sure who, but one of the women at her side gasped, while Ed just smirked and inhaled before blowing his cigarette smoke in her direction. “Funny. Was this before or after you opened your legs to them?”. Andrea made a sound of indignation, but Lara’s face was blank “neither. Before he was just a pin dick, after he didn’t have any at all. I’m sure you’d know what that’s like”. Ed’s face was ugly with hatred and red like blisters “obviously those Dixon’s boys you been whoring yourself out to haven’t taught you to respect your betters”. Andrea was almost shaking with rage while Carol was wringing her hands anxiously, Jacqui and Amy having taken Lara’s cubs a little ways away but out of hearing. “Obviously when they jumped you you didn’t get the memo. You’re low on the totem pole. We are your betters”.

It was then he lunged at her, but sweet, terrified Carol got in the way. Ed knocked his wife to the ground, screaming his rage as he turned to Lara. But Carol, despite her split lip, had done Lara a favour. Lara’s chrome alloy bat made a soft whistling sound as she swung it, Ed spluttering and choking loudly when she hit him in the throat. The other women all cried out as he quickly recovered and charged at her, hands raised as if to choke Lara, but suddenly Shane was there almost ripping Ed’s arm out of its socket and roughly shoving him to the ground. Over and over again Shane hit him, and while Lara was unfazed the other women watched in horror as their leader made a bloody mess of the man that was once Ed Peletier. As Carol screamed and the other’s begged for Shane to stop he finally did, leaning down he spat on the other man’s face “put your hands on your wife or your little girl or anyone else in this camp one more time I will not stop next time. I will not stop! Do you hear me?! Do you hear me?! I’ll beat you to death Ed,” Shane raised his fist again and hit Ed one more time, something structural in Ed’s face breaking under the heavy blow “I’ll beat you to death”. Carol was finally able to break out of Andrea’s hold, Shane kicking the fallen man in the ribs painfully before Ed’s wife dropped to her knees and sobbed over her husband. 

Shane sneered as all the women flinched away from his gaze, but everyone watched as Lara calmly walked up to him and, lifting one of his battered knuckles, gently placed a cool, damp cloth over the torn skin “you need this fixed up or a pain killer you come see me”. Lara gave him a respectful nod and walking silently through the horrified women she went to her cubs who were being entertained by Amy and Jacqui, unaware of the bloody events that had once again targeted Lara. 

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Dale had come to get Lara as Shane tied a, what they thought, was a delusion Jim to a tree. After settling the twins nearby with some crayons and a couple of stolen colouring books Lara tilted her head at them, shaking her head at Shane’s explanation “he was just digging some holes. Nothing to worry about”. Shane was crouching at her side as she lifted a cup to Jim’s lips, Jim smiling softly, gratefully. But it was his eyes that worried Lara. They shined with some sort of terrified awareness, darting all over the place and never landing on one thing for too long. Lara stood and Dale and Shane stood with her “Shane? Jim need’s an energy bar. Or something quick that we can give him that we have lying around. Dale? Any chance you have an extra hat? It doesn’t look like sun stroke, but he’s close to it. Even in the shade it would be a good idea, but we have to keep it damp” Dale nodded immediately, trudging up the hill towards his RV. Shane paused, and placing a still battered hand on her shoulder he smiled down at her “it’s good you’re here, Lara. Don’t you worry. You can stay for as long as you want”. Lara’s lips twitched into a small smile, but as Shane turned away and swaggered past Lara’s eyes darted into the forest before she crouched down to Jim’s height again. Now that the ‘normal’ people were gone, Jim startled Lara by lunging and desperately griping her hands “you keep your kids close, you hear me Laraina? Never out of your sight”. 

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Lara chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully as she past the mum’s teaching their kids, she had been going to sit with her cubs who were with them and still absorbed in their colouring when she noticed that Lori, and especially Carol, were having trouble teaching their kids the correct answers. Making sure that the mum’s would keep an eye on her kids Lara quickly made her way through camp. It was as she was walking towards her truck hands grabbed her and tugged her into the forest. Lara stared at Daryl alarmed, sea glass blue eyes wide as he dragged her a couple of feet into the dense tree line before turning to her “what the fuck is this I hear about Ed and Shane?”. 

Lara blinked a couple of times in silence; Daryl’s face becoming increasingly more infuriated he grabbed her hips and backed her into a tree, his forearms crowding her, and trapping her, there. Lips against her jaw her hands fisted in his shirt as he kissed a harsh line down her throat. Making his way back up he bite her ear lobe gently, making Lara moan softly while Daryl whispered against her skin “tell me now, Lara”. 

“Ed was watching me and the kids while we were in the quarry…” Lara gasped as Daryl’s hands trailed down her back to grip her ass, lifting her so his erection was cradled in the vee of her thighs. His body pinned hers to the pine tree, one arm wrapped around her with his hand slipping into her flimsy shorts while his other hand threaded through her blonde hair before gripping it and pulling her head back. Daryl leaned down and after licking the seam of her lips he whispered against them “get to the part of where Shane,” he growled “protected you”. Lara moaned again as Daryl gripped his hand on her ass, this time skin to skin as he grinded against her, his erection a brand. “Ed was taunting me, I fought back. He tried to attack me. Carol jumped in the way, and that gave me enough time to get my bat and hit him in the throat. When he recovered he came at me, but Shane pulled him back and beat him to a pulp. There’s nothing to it”. Daryl growled against her, Lara unknowingly stroking his chest trying to comfort him “your Mine”. Lara stilled, quiet as Daryl sucked, nipped and bit her neck “you’re Mine to protect. Mine to comfort. Mine to touch” Daryl lifted his mouth and gently bit her bottom lip “Mine to defend. To hold. To dominate”. He kissed her hard, his hand tightly holding her hair so she couldn’t move away “Mine. Next time there’s trouble, and I’m not there? Don’t ever fucking hesitate again. Going for his throat just because you thought they’d kick you out if you did anything worse isn’t how you’re going to stay alive”. Daryl stared challengingly down at her, daring her to fight him. His rage filled eyes were surprised when she reached up and kissed just below his lips “I’ll hold nothing back next time, until you get to me. That sooth your territorial instincts, Dee?” Daryl grinned viciously pleased down at her, lips covering hers in a kiss that almost had them both over the edge. 

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A little while later when Daryl finally released her, lust unfortunately unsatisfied, she came back to the mum’s with two work books in her hands. One she past to a confused Carol, the other to Lori who immediately started flicking through it curiously. “Maths, spelling, reading. Some stuff I’ve copied out of books. Everything in there was meant to be a study guide for my kids when they grew up a little. Those are the books for Carl and Sophia’s age groups” Carol blushed when she came to a page dedicated to physical health and sex education. Just enough to be appropriate for that age group anyway. “This is amazing Lara! When did you find the time to do all this?” Lori asked excitedly, stroking the pages that had been written with the up most care. Lara shrugged, absentmindedly letting Anita crawl into her lap while she played with Aidan’s hair “when the kids were asleep and I was on watch. I used to tutor all through school and college so it came pretty easy to me. Plus, if something happens to me and someone else has custody of the kids I wanted them educated. Or at least with some chance too. I’m not sure if you’re doing this already, but because of the diet now I’ve got my kids on vitamins and stuff to help them get all the nutrients they need. My next run into town I could pick up something for yours as well?”. Lori blushed, embarrassed she hadn’t thought of any of this. “We couldn’t ask that of you….” Carol started, but Lara smiled at her softly “it takes a village to raise a child. You’re responsible for your own children, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help each other. I was planning on asking some of the other’s to teach me skills I don’t possess. Like fishing from Andrea and Amy and mechanics from Jim and Dale. Surviving from Dee and Merle. That way I have more to teach my own kids, more to fill the books with. They’ll need to know these things. And I won’t leave them unskilled and unable to survive on their own”. The three shared proud, maternal looks. A silent pact was made then, while the kids around them were unaware just how far their mother’s would go to protect them in this new world.


	5. Chapter 5

“You’re staring at him. It’s enough to make me jealous.” His tone was so flat and was so unexpected Lara glanced up at Daryl in surprise, and stilled at the look in his eyes. The intent in them was so strong; it made something inside her crouch and watch him cautiously. When she said nothing, Daryl ducked his head and chewed his thumb cuticle, his eyes still intent on Shane. “I don’t like the way you are watching him”. Both of them had watched the reunion between the Grimes family, but only one of them felt the shadows. “That man, Shane.” Lara paused, eyes getting wider the longer she watched the Atlanta groups de facto leader “there’s something terribly wrong with him”. 

Daryl watched as Shane greeted his friend and walked aimlessly around camp. His face was blank, and his walk was as cocky. He saw no difference. Yet he got the feeling she was talking about something important, his instincts, his Gift, whispering in the back of his head. Something was telling him that soon, Shane could be a problem. And sooner rather than later, he would have to do something about it that could either break the tension, or tear everything apart. 

________________________________________

When the scout’s returned, everyone was a little sad to hear about the death of T-Dog, but the effect was paled due to the reunion between Rick and his son Carl, his wife Lori, his best friend and right-hand Shane. Theirs was a story of true faith; one that lightened the heart of the Atlanta survivors and breathed a little life into everyone that heard their story. 

Without Glenn, Rick would never have gotten out of that tank. Without T-Dog, and his sacrifice, they would never have been able to reach the guns Rick had accidently left behind. And to the surprise of everyone, without Merle, the group would never have made it out of Atlanta. Rick watched the gaping faces as he told his story, openly praising Merle for his skill and leadership in a time of acute stress, and couldn’t understand the disbelief. To him Merle was a hero, a man he was glad to shake hands with after the danger had passed. When they reached camp Merle slipped away, and it was now Rick went looking for him. And the healer a survivor had said lived in a parked box truck. 

Rick hissed in surprised when Lara open’s the roller door. “Jesus. You couldn’t be a day older than twenty”. Rick stares at her hard look “younger?” he whispers seeing the bruises on her arms and cut on her cheek, the machete and alloy bat strapped to her side.

“I’m older then I look” she looks at him intently, gaze focused before skirting off to the side. Carl appears, unable and unwilling to be away from his father for very long. “Lara’s a doctor. And she has all these books and things for studying for kids my age!” Rick grins down at his son, his gaze gentle but wary of the caution in hers. “I don’t have the training to be an actual doctor, but if you’re here to get fixed up you wouldn’t be the first”. The blonde looked inside her truck, gesturing to someone inside before turning to Rick “sit on the edge and I’ll be back”. As she went inside, her charges walked out, Anita full of smiles and a tendril of hair in her mouth and Aidan, stoic and silent. Rick sat beside them, Carl chattering to everyone and no one, talking in a way that included everyone but needed no comment. 

Lara returned, and no words were spoken as she patched the sheriff up. He tried to think of anything to say, but no word’s seemed right. She was too distant emotionally, to standoffish for light chatter. And her injuries angered Rick and gentled him. This women was too wild for any worthless prattle he could think of, and that frustrated the leader in him. 

“I’m Rick Grimes” Rick said abruptly, watching as her unique blue eyes flickered up to his face before quickly down to his arm. “Your son already introduced us”, Lara stated. Rick shook his head. “I didn’t catch a last name?” Rick said bending his head, trying to catch her eye, trying to build rapport. Suddenly a voice came from besides the truck Rick was sitting on “she’s a Dixon”. Daryl stalks towards them, and Rick’s so suddenly sure that these two are one-of-a-kind he’s almost startled. Merle trails after his brother, hands in his pocket he smirks as Daryl stands less than two feet away from Lara “my family, Sheriff Grimes. Blood and chosen”. Rick grins and shakes Merle’s hand again while Lara deftly put’s away her things.

Muscle’s less tense, she nodes silently to the newcomer before ushering her cubs in the direction of Andrea and Amy, and their catch of fish. Rick watches from his place on Lara’s truck, and together, Rick think’s Lara could be Amy and Andrea’s younger sibling.


	6. Chapter 6

“Disoriented comes closest”, Rick said, finishing his version of events of The End that night. All the survivors were seated around their group’s campfires. The Atlanta and the Georgia groups, as Lara had started to think of them, sharing one while the Peletier’s were off in their tent, minus Sophia who sat besides her friend Carl, and the Morales Family typically secluded by their own choice. Amy and Andrea had invited Lara to sit with them after the twins were put to bed, and soon the stories had started. Lara wasn’t interested in sharing, because her story was in no ways a vanilla journey, so while the blonde sister’s curled around each other, the Grimes family huddled together, with Carl and Sophia having their own conversations, Shane stared into the abyss, Glenn rested and Dale prompted the conversation along Lara wrote furiously in her notebook, glancing at her truck every few moments or so. She would have rather been with her twins, but allies were not something she was in a position to turn down. Merle Dixon sat to one side of her, on a tree stump running a clove smelling cloth over his knife, while Daryl sat behind her where he had thrown himself hours ago, and still hasn’t said a word. As soon as she had sat down, there he was, suddenly leaning her forwards so he could sit behind her and positioning himself so her back rested against his knees. Perfectly innocent, barely there touching, but a loud statement that was broadcasted across camp deliberately on his part. 

“What about you, Lara? I keep forgetting this is your first night with us also. So much has happened it feels like you’ve been with us since the start” kind words, yet Lara wasn’t completely certain they were true. Daryl and Lara both tensed as the survivor’s all turned to her, both uncomfortable with the attention. In the dark night, the camp fire seemed to make her injuries and bruises darker, more menacing. “Tell us about what happened to you before meeting us” Andrea continued, a small, encouraging smile on her face. 

Lara chewed her lip thoughtfully, trying to find an appropriately PG memory to offer. “Only what your comfortable sharing, Doc. No pressure” Merle paused when Shane spoke, glancing emotionlessly at him before exchanging looks with Daryl. 

“My cubs aren’t actually twins.” Most were perplexed at her statement, at her sudden declaration, but all listening firmly focused their attention on her. “I have no family. I was on the phone to my nephew and brother when the Walker’s first surfaced, and I know they didn’t survive the raids on the hospitals in Atlanta.” Dale bowed his head in respect of the dead. “I had no one I was close to, no strong ties of any kind. I guess, you could say I wandered. No destination. No allegiances or loyalties guiding me in any direction. First thing I did was secure transport and filled it with all the supplies I could find. Books. I knew I had to get out of the city. A group I passed by and ran with for a while said the military was going to napalm the region. Outside was the best bet for survival. I was in a mall, and I was filling a knapsack with survival books when Aidan found me”.

“He found you?” Amy asked, caught up in the moment. Lara’s eyes seemed to lose some of its steely willpower, and she nodded. “He found me. Just walked right up to me and planted himself at my side. I couldn’t get him to speak for days, yet he followed me like a second shadow. Anita was by chance, I was looking in the right place at the right time, and she grabbed my hand and that was it.”

“They imprinted on you, like baby ducks” Dale laughed, happy and joyful in a way many had lost, and probably would never find again. Even the sleepy eyed Glenn cracked a smile. “They were lucky,” Merle started, gaining the camps attention “not too many people would have taken them with them.” It was then, as Lara was looking into Merle’s green eyes, and by the way Daryl was staring at her intently, that she knew she hadn’t fooled the Dixon’s with her tale. 

Lara startled everyone when she stood up so suddenly, most of the survivor’s jumped. “What..?” Mere moments later there was a scream, and suddenly the quiet camp became chaos. The air was full of the smell of blood; the women collected their children and clutched them while the men gathered their weapons, and Lara was sprinting away before Daryl could even close his fist around her wrist. With one hand clutching her machete and the other swinging her alloy bat, Lara cut everything down that stood in her path. Shots were fired, and Rick and Shane were especially fixated on protecting their family, Lori clutching both Carl and a desperate Sophia to her. Amy, Andrea and Dale banded together, while the Dixon’s were a force all unto themselves. Crossbow, knife, even precious shells for their sawed off shotgun were used as they razed their way to Lara, and making a clean line to her box truck. It was almost over by the time they got there, the dozen or so Walker’s decapitated quickly and with substantial casualties on the survivor’s part, but Lara was fanatical, with eerily practiced malicious intent. 

Daryl and Merle stood guard as she ripped the roller door up, and as she strolled purposely towards the twins bed atop the compartment above the cab in her box truck, covered in blood and walking with determination, Daryl thought she was a queen among women. 

Valkyrie. 

Hellcat. 

Mine. 

Glancing away Daryl thinks the twins look like bobcat kittens as they peek between the child lock bars, buried under a nest of soft looking blankets. Soon the gate was opening and both twins reached for her at the same time, a breathless word of reassurance being murmured before Lara clutched them to her, sliding down the wall of her truck with them curled together on her lap. 

________________________________________

Ed and Carol Peletier were dead, and so were more than half of the other families camping with the Atlanta and Georgia groups, Morales Family and the Dixon’s. Sophia was understandably distraught, and Andrea and Amy took her under their wing. Lori clutched Carl and wouldn’t let him out of her sight, while the other’s combed the area quickly. Daryl wouldn’t go more than a couple of metres, and never out of sight, of Lara’s truck. It was Merle and Rick that gathered everyone who lived together around the RV. Jacqui was crying opening at the horrifying loss of life, and Shane was shaking his head and kicking dirt, running his hands over and over again across his face. 

It was Jim who broke the silence, but only a couple of people standing nearby heard him “I remember my dream now. Why I dug the holes.”

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Not many people slept that night, and it was decided the tents were too dangerous. Most crammed into their vehicles and the RV, the Dixon’s opting out of close-quarters, instead sharing Lara’s truck. Merle slept near the door, gun by his side, waking up every three hours to check the perimeter. Lara slept on the ground, a couple of sleeping bags put down to pad the hard flooring, while the couch Lara normally slept on she left free for Daryl when his shift was over. Every so often she’d hear him atop the box truck, shifting his weight or flashing his flashlight to let the others awake know everything’s alright. It was close to morning, the sky still dark when Daryl crept on silent feet inside. Lara was too exhausted to move or acknowledge him, so when he unexpectedly laid down besides her she jumped. On his side he wrapped an arm around her stomach, hesitating ever so slightly when feeling a tiny body curled against her, he adjusted so Lara’s head was using his arm for a pillow and Anita’s was cradle in the palm of his hand. His lips to her ear he whispered silently “where’s the boy?”. 

He was too warm, and ignoring the warning, cautious side of her nature she shifted more deeply into his embrace, eyes fluttering closed at his murmur of approval. Indicating somewhere towards the roller door Daryl glanced at his brother, almost not seeing Lara’s other cub deeply asleep by Merle’s side. Merle’s eyes flickered open, and they blinked at each other silently before shifting their attention elsewhere. Focusing on everything around them while the other three slept soundly. A territorial guard that would let nothing get past them.


	7. Chapter 7

Sophia was crying, body-wrenching sobbing, as she stood sandwiched between Andrea and Amy. Dale had one hand cupping Andrea’s shoulder, and the other patting the orphan girls back. Glenn was digging the grave, but every now and again Amy’s eyes and his would meet and they’d quickly look away again. Daryl had an inkling, a suspicion about the future. Like he was seeing something just barely over the horizon, but still not exactly sure what it was. He just knew it had something to do with that interwoven Atlanta Group. 

The Georgian’s stood a couple of feet back, Shane and Rick having already put the other’s in their graves. Just two more bodies left to lay to rest, and Daryl couldn’t believe these people. Merle and Daryl didn’t care about these people, only about surviving and keeping what was theirs safe. But Lara was pushed into going, her two cubs stony faced standing with her, and wherever she went Daryl was sure as hell was going to go too. 

“This is a mistake, not burning these bodies.” Daryl murmured to his brother. “It’s what we said we’d do, right? Burn them all? Isn’t that the idea?”. Rick and Shane turned around to face him while Carl and Lori went to console the still weeping Sophia. But whatever they were going to say was interrupted “don’t burry him with her. I don’t want him finding her”.

Glenn glanced around, but Rick was nodding his head, changing direction to kneel in front of the preteen “if that’s what you want, sweetheart. You’ll have it”. Lori was nodding, clutching Carl to her while everyone else was glancing at each other with knowing looks. If there was any chance at an afterlife, they were all hoping Sophia’s mother could finally have some peace. 

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“Soothsayer’s always have the worst luck.” Lara stated, staring down at an almost wasted away Jim. She sat beside’s him awkwardly, reaching out to touch his hand before pulling it back quickly. “Yeah,” Jim coughed, trying to laugh but not having the air to “life knocks us around a little. Only in my dreams do I have the Gift. But your boy, his power bleeds into the real world. He’s going to be hard fellow, and he’ll need help with all he’ll have to see”. 

“He’s already hard. Already seen too much.” Lara glanced towards the door like she’d rather be anywhere else “good thing an empaths not too far out of reach”. Jim seemed oblivious to her fight-or-flight nervousness “not the most comfortable of talents, either. If you’re not careful she’ll lose that smile of hers, and you’ll all die a little inside if it does”

“I’ll shield them” furious words, a pledge. Lara seemed to be making a lot of those recently. “He doesn’t always tell me and he doesn’t always get it right or even with enough time in advance, but Aidan has told me enough. They’ll be safe as long as I’m alive. And as long as I’m alive they’ll have protectors”. 

Knowing eyes looked up at her “those Dixon boys are more then they appear. Just a touch of the Gift in their veins, but it’s enough”. Lara nodded, folding her hands restlessly in her lap “I know. Same as myself. It’s just enough to get by with”. Jim smiled up at her, shaking his head “a touch? No, Laraina. You have more power then you give yourself credit for. No one else can do what you do, the way you do it”. Lara’s eyes immediately looked to her feet, but she said nothing. They both heard Jacqui talking and coming closer to the RV. Standing Lara looked down at Jim emotionlessly, hesitantly touching his forehead “there’s a pill besides you. If you take it you’ll feel no pain, and when they finally come to a decision and they allow you your request, your transformation or any Walker attack after will be painless”. 

Jim nodded at as she turned to leave, calling out to her before she stepped out of the RV “Lara! One last thing. Remember this. Do not shoot the dog. It might save your life one day”. Jacqui was staring, but Lara didn’t comment. Solemn she looked back at him “hey, maybe I'll see you on the other side.”  
Jim was peaceful, and his eyes fluttered closed “not likely”.   
________________________________________

Lara lifted herself to sit on the edge of the Dixon truck, where most had gathered to talk about where to go next. “The CDC is out best bet; I heard they were working on a cure. And I trust where I got this information” Rick was kneeling, face sincere, ever the earnest cop. But Shane was shaking his head, still, stubbornly refusing. Daryl was watching Lara as she, as if in a daze, was watching her cubs with Lori and Carl off to one side. An argument had broken out among the adults, and not too many were paying attention when she did, but those that mattered heard everything she muttered as Lara fiddled with a hole in the knee of her jeans “what we need is a private airport. Or a summer camp. Someplace not easily found or accessible by strangers. Something with a chain link fence and acreage. Get the group settled, trained in silent combat. Winter is coming, and we’ll need a stable base. Most summer camps have stocked lakes, nice hunting grounds. There’s a couple of airport’s scattered around the state, close by to the cities. I’ll need more books, but I’m pretty sure we could get crops up and running. A lot of airports have large hanger space and pilot quarters. Winter will be hell in tents. Hypothermia is easier to ward off inside a building. Most gated communities have generators, but we need to start becoming more efficient in what we have, not what we used to have…” she trailed off, but by that time everyone else was quiet and staring at her. 

“And how do you suggest we find these places?” Shane asked, and his tone causes both Merle and Daryl to whip around and glare at him. Lara looked up from her jeans, sea glass blue eyes blinking up at him as if confused, like she thought she said that all in her head “a map of course”, she stated deadpanned, causing a shock to go through the survivors. “It could work” Rick said, surprised. Most were nodding, but there was still some doubts. 

Shane roughly shook his head “no! What we need is a plan we’re sure will work! Not chasing after some fantasy dream!”. Lara faded out of the conversation, but Rick was still looking at her thoughtfully “hey Lara. What did you do before all this?”. Unsure she tilted her head at him “I worked as a PA, why?”.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally Published: Nov 4, 2012 on Fanfiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/~shinigami5910


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